U.S. Patent application entitled "Simplified Flat Top Umbrella" as filed on: Dec. 2, 1998 with a serial number of: 09/204,755 (hereinafter called "the prior application") was also invented by the same inventors of this application, and is opened to extend the ribs to lift the top rib 2 and the outer rib 3 to form a generally horizontal canopy and the outer portion 32 of the outer rib 3 is pulled inwardly by the pulling rib 5 and the stretcher rib 4 to form a skirt portion generally perpendicular to the horizontal canopy in order to provide a flat top umbrella, which may be used for decorative or advertising purpose, for instance, to simulate the bottle cap C as shown in FIG. 1 attached to this application.
However, the prior application did not disclose the umbrella cloth suitably provided for making an article such as the bottle cap C as shown in FIG. 1 having the advertising feature printed on the fat top surface T and having ruffles R circumferentially formed on a perimeter of the outer skirt portion.
For making an umbrella for simulating the bottle cap C as shown in FIG. 1, a method for making the conventional umbrella cloth may be taken into consideration by sewing S a plurality of triangular gores G to form the canopy of the umbrella U as shown in FIG. 2. Still, there is lacking of the ruffles R (FIG. 1) disposed around the perimeter of the canopy. For further making such ruffles R, it will require complex and cost-increasing production steps. Moreover, for sewing S all the gores G by threads along every two neighboring gores in order to assemble an umbrella canopy, it will also increase the production cost.
It is therefore invented by the present inventors for making a flat top umbrella having the canopy formed by an one-piece umbrella cloth.